on being nine

My dear Little Prince,

How?  How are you nine already?  That boggles my mind.  You’ve been part of our lives for going on a decade now… 

And what an adventure those years have been.  Travelling.  Learning.  Exploring. 

From figuring out all the wheeled objects, all of them, to snowboarding and surfing.  From your love of reading, often staying up later than me to just finish that one more chapter, to the speed with which you pick up new math topics.  And your love of art.  And your creativity and imagination. 

You wrote a book and gave it out as Christmas presents this past year.  At 8 years old.  I mean…  How very cool is that?

Plus, you’ve written and drawn how many comic books now?  The number keeps growing. 

This year you have just absolutely exploded with talent at all the things you attempt.  All while still being great with your two little brothers.  And getting your braces off.  And continuing to be good with your glasses.  And.  And.  And.

Really, you are a wonder.

Which just leaves me in constant awe and wondering…  What will you do next? 

I know, I know… I’m too hard on you at times.  I expect great things from you and I push you towards that, often forgetting that you are still so young.  You just act so much older than you are most of the time.  So, I’m sorry, as I tell you often, that I can be so demanding.  I’m working on it.  Just as you are working on growing and learning, and learning and growing, and here’s a little secret for you…  that never stops.  You will always be learning and growing, or you’ll be doing something wrong.

I’m not worried about that, though.  Your curiosity is insatiable.  You move from one topic to the next, following the answers of your initial questions down rabbit holes of information until you understand something, and then you move on to the next.

All these stepping stones on your way to changing the world.  You’re on your way, that’s for sure.  And you’ll get there in the end, of that I have no doubt.

Can’t wait to see what the next year brings, and then the decade after that.

Love you, kiddo.

Love,

Daddy / Matticus / The Jester

on being eighteen months

My dear Littlest Prince,

How is it possible that you are eighteen months already?  And, how it is possible you are only eighteen months. 

Oh, you are just such a joy of a toddler tornado right now.  So inquisitive.  So determined to keep up with your two big brothers.  And so amazingly good at making messes faster than we can clean them up.  You dismantle a room faster than your brothers ever did, and that’s saying something.

You’ve really taken to riding your little balance bike recently.  That’s so much fun to watch you scoot along and then lift your legs and coast…  We are an active family, so it’s good you like being outside too.  Like?  Love.  You love being outside.  Often taking your shoes out of the cupboard and bringing them to us to put on, while you are still in your pajamas, and we are still eating our breakfast.  And then you throw them at us when we don’t move fast enough.  Outside.  It’s where you want to be.  I don’t blame you.

So amazing watching you grow.  You’re learning things every day.  You’re getting stronger, faster, more coordinated, and smarter every day.  And your silly little expressions.  And your goofball nature.  I’m going to miss that when you find your words and use those more and more to get what you want instead.  Though, it’s going to be fun to talk to you too and have you reply with what’s going on in that head of yours. 

You are getting ready to transition out of your  baby chair.  You are demanding more and more to have the same food that everyone else at the table has.  You are constantly studying the swirling chaos of people and cats around you and sizing it all up, figuring out where you fit in, what’s expected, and what’s acceptable.  All while dealing with more new teeth, and changing nap schedules, and big brothers that don’t always want to share what they are playing with, and parents who can’t always drop everything they are doing to help you in that moment, and, and and…  Life is so very confusing, I know.  It’s fun, too, though.  And full of adventures.

There are so many amazing adventures ahead of you. 

Can’t wait to see you tackle them all. 

I love you.

Love,

Daddy / Matticus / The Jester

On being eight

My dear Little Prince,

Not so little anymore, huh? 

I say, “You can’t be eight, you look twelve,” not as a joke but because some days I have no idea how you ARE only eight.  You are amazingly good with your little brothers.  You are more self-sufficient than I remember being at eight.  Admittedly, that was a long time ago but still…

You are still amazing on your bike.  And your ability and my trust in you has grown so much that we’ve started going on longer rides, including running some errands that take us on busy city streets.  You are fearless and confident on your bike.  And in most aspects of your life, actually.  That is going to take you far.

You are so inquisitive about everything.  EVERYTHING.  You ask more questions in a day than I ask in a month it seems.  I’m glad I still have the answers to most of those questions.  One of these days though we’ll be looking up the answers together.  Learning, the adventure that never ends. 

I probably don’t tell you enough how proud I am of you.  And I know I’m too hard on you at times, and I’m sorry about that.  I forget that despite how you act most days, you aren’t actually twelve.  I’m trying to curb my expectations and when I push too hard I do always eventually catch myself and apologize.  I hope you can forgive me. 

Given your insatiable inquisitive nature, your confidence, and your determination in all things, it isn’t a joke when I say, “you are going to rule the world some day.”  Perhaps that isn’t quite right?  You aren’t going to rule the world.  You are going to change it.  You are going to shape it, mold it, pound it into something better.  I can’t wait to see what that is.

Love you kiddo,

Daddy/Matticus/The Jester

So this is six months

My dear Littlest Prince,

Okay, okay, this is a little late.  I’m sorry.  You are seven months now.  Nearly eight, actually.  So it goes in our return to the toddlerocracy….

Okay, okay.  You aren’t a toddler yet.  But, maybe I wasn’t talking about you?

Oh…  It is so much fun watching you learn every day.  Sometimes you seem to have grown an inch or two after every nap.  And you always seem to have learned something new after each nap.  From crawling everywhere.  To watching your big brothers play and then doing your best to follow after them to join in their fun.  To being determined to figure out the stairs.  To pulling yourself up on every surface you possibly can.  To all the amazing babblying and bubble blowing noises and faces you make.  To the sheer joy on recognizing someone as they enter the room you are in.  You smile so big, so amazingly, so full of life and love.  It’s infectious.

Just as you are bound and determined to keep up with your big brothers in every other aspect, you are breaking their records by already having ten teeth and working on some more it seems, given the drool and the fussing.  Everything goes in your mouth.  Every  single thing you can get your hands on.  So it goes. 

I wonder what tricks you’ll learn in the next six months?  You seem like you are already working on walking.  You seem like you are just bursting to say words.  Okay, not yet.   But it is only a matter of time.

Time…  It is something there just doesn’t seem to be enough of most days.  But, your time will come.  You will learn all the things and conquer all the things to be conquered.

Your brothers will set the example there.

I can’t wait to see it.

Love you,

Daddy/Matticus/The Jester

On being four

My dear Little Prince,

So this is four?  Four trips around the sun.  Four years old…

Four years of tantrums and giggles, adventures and growth.  And this last year was exceptional for so many reasons.  You became a big brother.  You lost out on story time at Library.  You went camping for the first time.  You learned all about wearing masks.  Tantrums.  Joy.  Up and down.  Good and bad.  A year as a rollercoaster as, truthfully, most are.  Perhaps this year was more down than up?  That’s hard to say.  It was certainly different in unexpected ways.  I’ll venture that it was still a very good year for you.

And you have another good year ahead of you.  You’re going to learn so much.  You’ve already started practicing riding a bike and writing your name.  You’ve been listening in on your big brother’s math and language lessons and know some of that already as well.  This year you’ll pick up even more without even trying.  That’s a bonus of being a younger brother.  The eldest child will always be the first at everything but the younger siblings will pick up things faster because they’ve heard it before, seen it before.  I know.  I’m a younger brother myself.

Also like me, you are incredibly empathetic.  The Queen and I adore that about you.  It’s an admirable trait for sure.  It means you will have some tough days because you feel not just for yourself but for all of us.  There has been a lot to feel this year.  And, likely, that will always be true in different ways.  You’ll turn this trait into a skill you can wield to conquer worlds.  You have that charm and that fire.

It will not all be smooth sailing, of course.  You will still have your struggles.  But, they will get easier.  Each day, week, and month.  You’ll really start to get an understanding of some of the nuances that make our little family tick, and the wider world as a whole too.  And those rough patches of misunderstandings and tantrums will become fewer and farther between. 

And I can’t wait to see how different you are in another year.

Love you,

Daddy

Matticus

The Jester